Peacefrog's travel blogs:
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Revolving a day back around the world - From
there I will be one day
younger... and if I can't
get used to the idea,
maybe I'll just have to do
it again the other way...
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Preparation - General
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So, how to prepare a RTW trip?
Following are the different steps which (will hopefully) lead me to departure, on May 18th
First thing, you need to have planned for some time off...
Easy for me, as I work on a mission by mission base. Well, in fact I use temporary contracts only to get that flexibility. It proves useful now!
Second, you need some money. Having worked 3 years, often without any expense as I was in remote shitty places, I do have the budget. Therefore I don't need a sponsor, and I don't need to find a job while travelling (even though it is a good way to mingle in the culture)
Means of transportation. To go around the world in a reasonable timeframe (one year), the plane is a serious asset. So I looked at the round-the-world fares from the three major alliances: skyteam, oneworld, and staralliance. As I definitely wanted to discover Oceania and South-America, I chose Oneworld, as it includes Qantas and LAN.
Then... where to go? Difficult to define. As you look closely at the means of transport and the time you have, you end up modifying your itinerary all the time. Still, at some point, it was possible to draft an itinerary.
To what extend do you need to plan your moves? I had planned to prepare only for the first leg (Mongolia-China-Vietnam), and to start looking at Oceania without really planning anything. And I had planned to buy the guidebook for South America once I would arrive in Australia.
But things were a bit more tricky. See, the RTW ticket allows for date modifications, but the price is based on the mileage, and there is a limited number of flights per continent. So the flight segments, as they call it, had to be defined.
How should I know how I will go from Santiago to Buenos Aires? plane, bus, or via Patagonia? On my way to Punta Arenas, should I take the bus to stop along the Andes, or should I just fly over them?
I had to make some decisions ahead, so here I am with the LP South East Asia in a Shoestring, LP Australia and New Zealand in a Shoestring, the Footpring South American Handbook, plus the ones I was already working on: LPs Mongolia, China, and Vietnam
Takes me lots more preparation work than planned, but I guess it's worth it. Having a plan is the best way to do whatever you feel like once you are on the move, as you can always choose to get back in the tracks you had planned... or not !
I had to spend lots of time on the travel planners (little programs by airlines alliances), and also on the phone for the reservation.
Meanwhile, I had to give some thoughts to what material I should bring along...
And also, I had to organize with my two brothers, as we plan to meet at our father's in Beijing, move to the Yangtse, and then to Vietnam. From Saigon, Alix will go back to France, and Vincent will set off to Korea to visit a friend.
That preparation is a full-time job, and I'm running out of time... maybe I should have planned a bit more ahead? Err... NO!
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Latest Comments (2)
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passage de santiago à buenos aires (reply)
May 2, 2006 10:34 EST by sylvainpicard
Pour aller de santiago du chili à buenos aires tu peux prendre le train jusqu'a Mendoza (tu peux même voyager dans les vagon de marchandise) puis aprés t'a 10 heures de bus jusqu'a buenos aires.
Si tu veux faire un truc de dingue (d'aprés le lonely planet) tu peux traverser le paraguay par une piste dans la jungle(2jours en moyenne) et t'arrive en bolivie
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